CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter used his first overseas trip as the Pentagon's new chief to re-examine the strategies and tactics behind President Barack Obama's wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Staking out independent ground that his predecessor, Chuck Hagel, never seized, Carter walked a fine line between endorsing the president's core principles and signaling a desire for some tactical adjustments that other officials say reflect the realities on the ground in the three countries. In Afghanistan, Carter offered President Ashraf Ghani increased flexibility in the U.S. timetable for the withdrawal of troops. Carter, 60, who took office last...

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CAMP ARIFJAN, Kuwait U.S. Defense Secretary Ashton Carter used his first overseas trip as the Pentagon's new chief to re-examine the strategies and tactics behind President Barack Obama's wars in Afghanistan, Iraq and Syria. Staking out...

U.S. Defense Secretary Ash Carter convened an extraordinary war council Monday on Iraq's doorstep six days after taking office, gathering military and diplomatic leaders to discuss the Obama administration's oft-criticized strategy for countering the...

The U.S. military believes it has killed several hundred Islamic State fighters in air strikes in and around the Syrian town of Kobani, a Pentagon spokesman said on Wednesday.An increased number of air strikes around the embattled border town by...

Turkey has agreed to allow U.S. warplanes to use its air bases for missions in Syria, as well as provide rebels there with light arms and train them with infantry tactics for the ongoing battle against Islamic State militants, the Pentagon said Sunday.
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Defense Secretary Chuck Hagel said the U.S. was getting closer to reaching a deal with Turkey about training and equipping moderate Syrian rebels inside Turkey's borders for the ongoing campaign against Islamic State militants.
Rebel training is...

Islamic State fighters seized more than a third of the Syrian border town of Kobani, a monitoring group said on Thursday, as U.S.-led air strikes failed to halt their advance and Turkish forces looked on without intervening.
With Washington ruling out...

Turkey's president said the Syrian Kurdish town of Kobani was "about to fall" on Tuesday as Islamic State fighters pressed home a three-week assault that has cost a reported 400 lives and forced thousands to flee their homes. The prospect that...